Rohan Lifescapes in the dock for not rehabilitating residents in rdvpt project

Mumbai police have charged Rohan Lifescapes and Goodwill Properties for cheating and breach of trust over a redevelopment project affecting original inhabitants.

Mumbai: The Gamdevi police have booked the promoters and staff of prominent city-based developer Rohan Lifescapes and its subsidiary Goodwill Properties for criminal breach of trust and cheating.

The developer utilised the FSI potential of all the five plots and sold flats in the open market without rehabilitating the old occupants or surrendering the MHADA surplus (Raju Shinde/HT Photo)

According to the first information report (FIR), the developer had in 2003 entered into an agreement for a redevelopment project with the original inhabitants of five plots near Mani Bhavan. But some of them were not provided alternate homes despite the utilisation of the entire floor space index for the five plots during construction of the Shiv Tapi building.

The FIR was registered under sections 318(4), 316(2), 316(5) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in March, based on a complaint by one of the original inhabitants who did not wish to be identified. The accused included Rohan Lifescapes chairman and managing director Harresh Mehta and other staff including Rohan Mehta, Anuja Mehta, Mayuri Mehta, Atul Gandhi and Pranav Veri.

The complainant referred to a report by the chief vigilance and security officer of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), Vineet Agarwal, who had in May 2024 recommended that an FIR be filed against the promoters.

According to the report, of which HT has a copy, Goodwill Properties took up five plots with cessed buildings in the Gamdevi area for redevelopment in 2003. Extant rules required the consent of at least 70% of the original inhabitants, which was not the case in some of the plots. So the developer amalgamated the five plots “for the sake of taking the total consent over 70%”, the report noted.

“This is totally against the rights of the occupants and shows malicious intent of the developer to somehow obtain permissions,” the report said.

In April 2003, MHADA gave a no objection certificate to the redevelopment project subject to the developer securing consent from at least 70% inhabitants of the plot owned by the Goregaonkars within three months. But the developer went ahead with the project without fulfilling the condition, the report said.

“The developer not only illegally commenced work but also utilised the FSI potential of all the five plots in the new building and sold flats in the open market without rehabilitating the old occupants or surrendering the MHADA surplus,” the report stated.

Rahul Goregaonkar, who lives in a bungalow on one of the plots, said they had lost all trust in the developer owing to their experience over the past two decades.

“We do not wish to go ahead with the redevelopment of our bungalow and appeal to MHADA to restore our FSI consumed by the developer, leaving us in the lurch,” he said.

Rohan Lifescapes’ website lists Shiv Tapi building as one of its completed projects. Hindustan Times reached out to its chairman and managing director Harresh Mehta regarding the allegations of residents and MHADA’s report, but he refused to comment on the same. Mehta had been arrested in June 2023 for allegedly defrauding the State Bank of India of ₹280 crore.